The bizarre reasons for rejecting rescue dogs

The saying that a dog is for life, not just for Christmas, is hitting home for some new dog owners now that the festivities are over.

Charity Finding Furever Homes is dedicated to finding new homes and owners for dogs.

It rescues and rehomes dogs around the country and has looked after 331 dogs since it was set up around three years ago.

But Andrea Newton, who lives in Chorley and is one of the charity’s four trustees, says an increasing number of people are returning dogs soon after adopting them.

And she is encouraging people to be sure they are “rescue ready” before deciding to rehome a dog.

Andrea said: “This campaign is vital as we may live in a society where we are free to change our hair colour or our new mobile phone at the drop of a hat and where we can customise everything from our car to our contact lenses, but a dog is not an object that will instantly behave as you want it to and slot straight in. They cannot be picked up and dropped at will.

“It is vital people understand that and they are sure they really are rescue ready, as owning a dog is a privilege, not a right, and it is not for everybody.”

Andrea says there are sometimes genuine reasons why people need to return their dog.

But in the last six months, she says dogs have been taken back to the charity for reasons including:

- A dog was driven 15 miles from kennels en route to its new home and would not sit nicely in the boot of the car.

- A dog was returned to kennels after a couple of days because its new owners said it was boring.

- A new owner’s existing dog did not like playing with an adopted lurcher.